The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary today.

They will spend the day together privately at Buckingham Palace after an evening out at the Royal Variety Performance last night.

The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a 65th wedding anniversary.

Although the couple’s schedule is free of public engagements today, the Queen has audiences in the morning with the outgoing and incoming Commanding Officer of the third Battalion The Royal Welsh and the High Commissioner for Belize.

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece first met in 1934 whenthey attended the wedding of Philip’s cousin, Princess Marina of Greece to Princess Elizabeth’s uncle, the Duke of Kent

Their Blue Sapphire anniversary falls in the same year that the monarch marked her historic Diamond Jubilee.

Philip, 91, was forced to miss some of the key celebrations during the special bank holiday weekend honouring the Queen’s 60-year reign after falling ill with a bladder infection.

He was taken to hospital the day after braving cold, wet and windy conditions on the royal barge for several hours during the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames.

Princess Elizabeth and Lt Philip Mountbatten posing for their wedding photos at Buckingham Palace. Right: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in the parade ring during the second day of the Epsom Derby horse racing festival in Surrey during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.Princess Elizabeth and Lt Philip Mountbatten posing for their wedding photos at Buckingham Palace. Right: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in the parade ring during the second day of the Epsom Derby horse racing festival in Surrey during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The Duke was also taken to hospital in August for a recurrence of the bladder infection during his summer break in Balmoral in Scotland and previously had a successful procedure to clear a blocked coronary artery last December, spending four nights in hospital over Christmas. Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip of Greece first met in 1934 when they attended the wedding of Philip’s cousin, Princess Marina of Greece to Princess Elizabeth’s uncle, the Duke of Kent.

The Princess and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who became a naturalised British subject and changed his surname, married on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wed last year.

The ceremony provided the nation with a morale boost in the austere post-war days amid the widespread rationing facing the country.

The royal bride wore an ivory silk Norman Hartnell gown, decorated with 10,000 seed pearls, glittering crystals and featuring an intricate four-metre star-patterned train.

The night before, thousands of well-wishers braved the cold November air to stake their place along the processional route. Millions of people listened on the wireless to news reports or watched coverage on the weekly cinema newsreels.

The newlyweds celebrated afterwards with guests at a wedding breakfast in Buckingham Palace’s Ball Supper Room.

They honeymooned at Broadlands, Hampshire – the home of Philip’s uncle, Lord Mountbatten – and also at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate.

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